We had our excitement, we had our duds, we had our duds that turned into excitement. That pretty much sums up this past weekend. BRIEF analysis below.

Titans at Chiefs:

The first half made this game look like a dud. Alex Smith had a dominant first half, going 19-23, 231 yards, 2 TD’s and 1 secret admirer with John Gruden. They took a 21-3 halftime lead and yours truly almost went to do something productive for the weekend. Unbelievably, the Titans didn’t give up and held Smith to only 33 yards in the 2nd half while racking up their own points. They botched two 2 pt conversions but took a 22-21 lead. The play where Henry fumbled the ball and the Chiefs ran it back would have been one we saw on replay for years to come had it actually been a fumble. But they shocked the Chiefs with a wicked comebackon the road to advance.

Falcons at Rams:

I’ve told many people that I distinctly remember being depressed in 2005 when the Rams lost to the Vick led Falcons, but this time I feel really good about where our team is and where we are going. The Rams should have done two things and they could have won that game. First, Gurley averaged 7.2 yards per carry, yet only got the ball 14 times. Still enough for 100 yards, but what the heck? He found a major weakness in the defense and they didn’t exploit it at all! Second, for the love of God stop Julio Jones! Only 3 WR’s caught passes in the game; Jones, Sanu, and a guy nobody’s heard of had 1 catch.

Sorry for the Survivor reference, but now that all the riff-raff are out, it’s time to get down to business.

I missed a week, despite some time off. Here’s a snapshot of what Week 16-17 was going to look like.

The Eagles suddenly aren’t looking invincible anymore

Hope you didn’t bet on the Eagles game, their spread was 9.5. Scored a flukey TD at the end of the game to go up 9, and then kneeled during the extra point to be sportsmen. That’s a bad beat!

2 TD’s got called back against the Bills using the stupid catch rule. Go figure it was the Patriots who benefited

Interesting situation in the NFC, where you almost want the 4th seed so if you win the first game you play the Wentz-less Eagles. Both the Panthers and Saints will be fighting for the NFC South, so one of them wants to win to get a home game. So if you’re the Rams, I think resting your starters and letting Garrapolo go 5-0 as a 49er makes perfect sense.

I’m not going to make any more player predictions the rest of this year. In back to back weeks, I’ve made bold predictions about Adrian Peterson (who was put on IR the next week) and Antonio Brown (who will miss the next 2 games).

There are obviously two games to talk about as the back to back endings were two of the best this year. Both included rules that fans absolutely hate and the NFL should look at this offseason. Both included teams that went for it all when they were guaranteed a FG to take it into overtime.

The Race for 1st:

The Steelers were up and not dominating but steadily beating the Patriots in every aspect of the game. The Patriots score to seemingly tie it at 17, but the extra point is no good! Pittsburgh scores to go up 8, and it stays 24-16 deep into the 4th. The Patriots are forced to kick a FG with 3:56 left in the game to bring it to within 5. Steelers go 3 and out, and then New England marches 77 yards in 1:10 in an amazing drive which basically only featured Gronkowski. They make a 2pt conversion to go up 3. Taking a step back, I along with Steeler nation was utterly surprised that all of a sudden the Patriots were ahead. Watching the 2nd half, it truly felt like Pittsburgh was in control and going to win until the final 4 minutes, so we were all pretty much shocked. They scored 11 points in exactly 3 minutes. Continue Reading

Alright, I know I promised at the beginning of the season I wouldn’t dissect plays or sequences, but the Jaguars and Chargers game was just too crazy to not address. If you know what happened, skip this, but otherwise it’s worth reading! Let’s set the scene. Chargers up 17-14 with 2:51 left in the game, they are just punting the ball to Jacksonville.

After 49 seconds and crossing midfield, Bortles throws an interception. Should be game over, right?

1st play, Chargers Fumble! Jags run it back for a score, but it’s reversed. But hey, they have the ball in FG range already

Hold your horses, at the 22 yard line (so a 39 yard Field Goal), Bortles throws ANOTHER interception. Game over, right?

Nope, Jags have all 3 timeouts since they fumbled the first play last time. 3 runs and 3 timeouts later, there’s 1:08 in the game and Chargers have to punt

Josh Lambo, ex Charger, nails a short FG to tie the game as time expires. Overtime

Jags punt first possession

Chargers throw deep and it’s caught by Travis Benjamin only to be ripped out of his hands and ruled an interception. Guy runs it back 51 yards and gets tackled at the 2 yd line

Now fun with penalties. There’s a 15 yard penalty on the INT for taunting. Ball at the 17. Jags go nowhere in 3 plays and line up to kick a field goal, but there’s a delay of game on the defense, march the ball forward 5 yards.

Field Goal is BLOCKED! But trickles barely over the uprights. Jags win! BUT, had that delay of game not been called, the ball would have fallen short.

This week’s article will be focusing 100% on football, and not politics. Because that’s why I and millions of other Americans watch this game; for entertainment purposes. Everybody has and is entitled to their opinions. Nobody is right, nobody is wrong, it’s an opinion about what you think is right. And that folks, is the most I’ll say about this subject the entirety of the season. Now on to Football!

Crazy week of upsets:

Apparently the Thursday night game was a precursor to the surprises we’d see on Sunday! Jags blowing out the Ravens, Bills over Broncos, Bears over Steelers, Vikings with a backup QB dominating the Bucs, Jets over Dolphins, Saints blowing out undefeated Panthers, and Redskins over the Raiders. We also came dang close to the Bengals knocking off the Packers, and the Texans taking out the Patriots.

Sure they were only playing the Cowboys, but the Packers looked to return to a bit of their old selves. They showed improvement after a 2-4 six game stretch, and they probably shouldn’t have beaten the Lions. Mike McCarthy is back to calling plays, which seemed to help both Aaron Rodgers and the run game. In fact, the Packers ran for 230 yards on 44 carries (vs. 35 passes for 218). And 28 points will win you a lot of games in the NFL, but in saying that there was a stretch of 5 straight punts on offense in the 2nd half.

Quick Hits:

Russell Wilson threw his 2nd 5 TD game in 3 weeks

Brock Osweiler lost for the first time in his career. He has now led his team to 1 TD in 2 games

Jacksonville has a legit shot at winning the division. They play the Falcons, Saints, and Texans. And the Texans and Colts are down to 3rd string QB’s

Andy Dalton getting injured this late in the season nearly guarantees a playoff birth but 1st round loss for the 5th straight year

Speaking of Dalton, didn’t it seem like he was in the locker room, back in street clothes, and fully casted up in about 7 minutes?

Sending LeSean McCoy as the only Bills captain against his old team? Love it!

Surprise! To three of my readers out there, I lied. Because you asked for it, I have changed my mind and decided to do my first NFL Draft edition of FMQB! I figured that the 2 extra weeks that ESPN gets to talk about the Draft isn’t enough media attention for everybody, so I’ll do a mini post to add my two cents. As a disclaimer, the reason I initially said “no” was because I’m not much of a College Football guy. But with the ability to witness a potential Top 10 draft class of all time, I felt compelled to get involved.

On a side note, despite my lack of college football knowledge, I have always loved watching the draft. Although it can be one of the more boring pieces of television, it seems to give teams and fan bases hope for the following year. Plus, it always feels like football has been gone so long, that it reminds people that fun is right around the corner! This year has taken FOREVER to get to this point. Holding it 2 weeks later doesn’t help, and neither does the quality of players.

Second side note, I joke about ESPN’s coverage, but I became enthralled in Jon Gruden’s QB Camp series which followed 8 QB’s. If anybody hasn’t seen this and can catch a re-run, I highly recommend it. Especially Johnny Manziel’s episode, which changed my opinion on him 180 degrees (for the better). Gruden does a good job of pointing out flaws, asking the tough questions, and not taking the easy way out. Plus, you think you know football until you watch these guys start to break down plays.

Let’s be honest here, it’s such a crapshoot that even the experts get surprised with picks. So here is my Top 10 Draft Picks, and then where some other notable players could/should go. I tried to be a little gutsy with a few things, including a major trade to start it off!

1. Atlanta Falcons (trade with Houston Texans) — Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina: With a draft class like this, I see teams willing to move up. I also don’t think Houston is in love with any of the QB’s to warrant a #1 overall pick. The Falcons had a fluke year last year, and don’t need WR, QB, RB, or really anything on offense. An explosive DE could be the missing piece to their puzzle. The Falcons also showed that they are willing to make this move by grabbing Julio Jones a few years ago.

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About FMQB

FMQB is a blog for football fans, by a football fan. Each week I try to show some insights into several games and interesting statistics while also bringing humor to the mix. Join me for some fun by taking a quick break every week to re-live the best game in the world.